Happy Monday, readers! Today, Austenesque Reviews is paid a visit from an author who may be new to some of you – James Ramos, who just recently published a Young Adult, gender-swap adaptation of Pride and Prejudice titled, That Girl, Darcy! I hope you enjoy meeting James and learning more about how he came up with the idea to retell Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of teenage boy.
Thank you so much, Meredith, for having me here on Austenesque Reviews! I love your site, and I love reading and writing about pretty much anything Jane Austen!
To me—and plenty of other people—Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is perfect just the way it is. So why reimagine it? Why do so many people reimagine and reinterpret Jane Austen’s work? For me, the answer is that the story Jane Austen told with Pride and Prejudice is a timeless one, and the characters she created therein are characters that just won’t let us forget them.
When I started writing That Girl, Darcy, I had to decide how faithful I wanted to be to the original novel. It was important for me to maintain as much of the spirit of Jane Austen’s work as I could, and to that end, I decided to be as loyal to the plot and characters as I could, given that I was already making some fairly drastic changes in my retelling of the story.
Finding the similarities between a young woman of the regency era and a teenage boy in modern-day high school was not easy, but they were there. Elizabeth was at a tumultuous time in her life, when big decisions needed to be made, and she was less than thrilled about her future prospects. At the same time, she was constantly being pressured by those that cared about her and society at large to choose a role for herself that she did not want. The same could be true of a high school kid, especially during their senior year of high school.
I’ve read a lot of young adult contemporary romance, and it seemed to me that the majority of the stories were told from the young woman’s perspective. And yet, the feelings that these protagonists had were feelings I could relate to as well. It got me thinking about romance, and falling in love, and the differences between how boys and girls experience and process these things. I thought it would be kind of fun and a little bit different to be in a boy’s head while he falls in love, and to see what kinds of weird things he goes through and how he processes the whole situation.
Yet, despite the story being written from Elliott’s perspective, to me, the focal character of That Girl, Darcy is Darcy herself. It’s her arrival that triggers Elliott’s self-discovery, and who jumpstarts his journey toward becoming a more enlightened individual. She becomes the virtual center of Elliott’s universe. Their interactions with each other cause both of them to change, to grow, and, in coming to better understand each other, come to a better understanding of themselves.
In the end, what I hoped to achieve with That Girl, Darcy was an homage to Pride and Prejudice. I hoped that, if anyone read the novel and had not read Jane Austen’s original, they would want to go back and read it. And I hoped that those who had already read the original would be able to feel that this was, at its heart, the same story and characters, even if there were differences in the trappings of the stories.
~ Book Blurb ~
To Elliott Bennett, life is simple. It’s all parties, skateboarding, and arguing over who would win in a fight between Hulk and Superman with his friends. It’s his senior year, and he wants nothing more than to soak up his final year of freedom before real life begins.
That is, until Darcy Fitzwilliam and her best friend Bridget move in to the only mansion in the neighborhood. When Elliot meets Darcy at a party, he finds out that she isn’t into skateboarding (which he lives for), she hates science-fiction (which he loves), and she thinks his friends are a pack of morons (which, honestly, might be half true)—and yet, there’s something irritatingly intriguing about her.
When Elliot’s cousin Jake starts to date her friend Bridget, it complicates Elliot’s plans to ignore the scowling Darcy for the rest of the year. Why is Darcy so . . . ugh? Elliott doesn’t know, but for some reason, he’s determined to find out—even if she doesn’t know the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars.
Published by Future House Publishing, That Girl, Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Story, is available now on Amazon in print and electronic formats.
Thank you so much, James! I’m really interested to see what kind of comparisons you draw between Elizabeth and Elliott and the other characters of your story! Also, I love that Elliott is into nerdy things! Can’t wait to read it!
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Connect with James
GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
The kind people at Future House Publishing are offering TWO lovely paperback copies of That Girl, Darcy for me to give away to TWO lucky readers!
To enter this giveaway, leave a question, a comment, or some love for James below!
- This giveaway is open worldwide. Thank you, Future House Publishing!
- This giveaway ends February 29th!
Wow! would love to read this gender-swapped contempory version of Pride and Prejudice!
How adorable to meet this new (to me) JAFF author. So humble, and I don’t know yet but I suspect quite talented. Best of luck Mr Ramos. Lovely guest post today, Meredith!
What a fascinating post and delightful feature and giveaway. Thanks for this enjoyable introduction.
How interesting! Love the skateboard on the front. Good Luck with your book.
Thanks, Becky!
Looks really nice! I’ve read two other gender-swap stories and they were very funny!
This sounds interesting Meredith. I’m not sure how I feel about the gender swap but I am willing to give it a go as it does sound good. Thanks for the giveaway
I haven’t read any gender swap JAFF yet, though I do believe I have two sitting languishing on my Kindle somewhere. This one definitely sounds intriguing because as a Brit, the whole US high school culture thing seems so different to our own secondary education system over here, or so I’m lead to believe from what I’ve seen on TV and in films.
Thanks for a most interesting post, James and Meredith, and for making the paperback giveaway international.
This seems like a very interesting premise. I’d love to see how different Elizabeth’s and Elliott’s journeys are from each other given the difference in gender and era, since a huge part of what I loved about Pride and Prejudice was Lizzy and Darcy’s transformations. I’m also wondering how (if any) the Mr. Collins and Caroline Bingley characters fit into this?… Plus, a darcy-esque girl? Extremely interesting!
I smiled about the Hulk and Superman comment. I can imagine my son having the same conversation in high school. He is now almost 28 but still loves sci-fi/fantasy and is still a huge fan of Star Wars. Congratulations on your book and it certainly sounds like a fun read. Thank you.
This sounds really great, James! I always love it when Austen’s stories are re-envisioned from a male perspective! It sounds as if you really thought through the implications of a modern retelling and the gender swap. I love that you call it an “homage”—that’s exactly how I thought of my own modern retelling effort. Wasn’t it fun to immerse yourself in the world of the novel for all that time?
It definitely was! Now that the book’s finished I find myself missing it a lot!
I am so glad to know about a Pride and Prejudice story with a gender swap and the male point of view! I have a certain young man I want to gift with this…
Enjoyed learning how James envisioned his retelling. The modern gender-swap version sounds fun. Look forward to reading it.
Sounds really cute, will have to check it out! Thank for the chance to win this 🙂
Hi there. I’ve read a Regency gender swap P&P and I really enjoyed it, not sure that I’ve read a modern day one, but it’s a great idea for a story. Best of luck with it 🙂
Thank you 😀
What an interesting premise for a P&P story. Congratulations on your new novel! I’m looking forward to reading it!
I’m fascinated that a young man would hunk to relate p&p to teens today. Great to see a new author. I’d love to read it. What a great idea this is.
I’ve only read a handful of non-Regency P&P adaptations. Now, a gender swap story, written from a modern, young male’s perspective? Oh, yeah, I’m interested in this one!
But, aargh! Darcy Fitzwilliam doesn’t know the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars? Sacrilege!
Thanks for introducing us to James, Meredith.
The best of luck to you and your novel, James. I know I’m going to enjoy reading That Girl, Darcy.
What a fun switch! I’d love to read it.
It sounds a really amazing story! I really like the idea of swapping the characters and I want to know about this Darcy girl. Is Darcy also a “rich” girl that looks above the others (or at least it seems so)? Is there any Wickham around?
I have just added to my wish list this book but i will wait to see if I am lucky with the giveaway but I would love to have the paperback!
Thank you for the giveaway!
Thanks! I won’t say too much (spoilers!), but I tried to write Darcy as closely to Mr. Darcy as far as personality and circumstances, and yes, there is definitely a Wickham presence in the story 🙂
This book sounds awesome! I love the idea of writing from Elliot’s POV, but still keeping Elizabeth the main focus! How interesting! Can’t wait to read it!
Congratulations, James, on your book! Thank you for the giveaway!
Well done!
This sounds awesome! I’ve never read a gender swapped P&P before. I’m adding it to my TBR ASAP.
Congratulation on your book Mr Ramos, it sounds really funny and I cannot wait ot read it.
The gender swap idea sounds fun! Adding this to my list. Thanks for the giveaway!
I am intrigued with your role reversal. Congratulations on your novel. I will add it to my TBR pile.
I like that its from the male’s POV.
This sounds adorable! I actually haven’t been reading much JAFF lately (after a decade of continuous consumption, I’m finally running out of steam), but this plot seems different and compelling. Thanks for the chance to win the book!